FILM 50 2015: CHICAGO'S SCREEN GEMS

Ray Pride | 2015 | Newcity Film

“Community is definitely the defining word of our organization,” Chicago Media Project executive director Paula Froehle says. “Steve and I co-founded CMP in 2014 to forge a new community of film advocates in Chicago who love nonfiction film and understand its power to enlighten, to inspire and to change lives. We also wanted to try out a new kind of philanthropy in our community; we call it ‘engaged philanthropy.’ We wanted our philanthropy to not just be about writing a check. Instead we wanted our members to feel an intimate connection to the projects and causes CMP supports and to be inspired to bring impact media into their own advocacy. Plus, we asked ourselves ‘why shouldn’t philanthropy be fun?’ We wanted CMP members to enjoy themselves and to meet like-minded people in the process of helping really great films get made.”